By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Sixth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Sirach 15:15-20 1 Cor. 2:6-10 Matt. 5:17-37 In the second reading today St. Paul states that he speaks a wisdom to those who are mature, but, he says, it is not a wisdom of this age nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. The Wisdom of God is Jesus. This is the wisdom we are all supposed to be preaching. However, it has to go beyond just speaking about the Wisdom of God; we have to live it. In the Gospel reading today our Lord tells us that not a jot or a tittle will pass away from the Law until all things have…Continue Reading

February 2, 2014Our Catholic FaithComments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . Public Witness Is Not Optional For Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK When the God of Judeo-Christianity is excluded in a public ceremony which celebrates and glamorizes evil, should His friends be present also? Many Catholics believe that to show their love they should accept invitations to every event at which their presence is requested. Can love also be expressed by the witness made possible by absence from some events? At a recent meeting of priests, the group discussed the dilemmas our Catholics face, especially when invited to participate in what I call same-sex marital-simulation ceremonies. Many Catholics already attend invalid marriages between divorced Catholic individuals, for example; should they make distinctions between different kinds of invalid marriages such as natural and unnatural in order to discern…Continue Reading

February 1, 2014Our Catholic FaithComments Off on Priestly Celibacy: Unnatural? Or…Supernatural? The Biblical Foundations Of Celibacy: Summing Up

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 6 The Catholic priesthood is God’s holy calling (2 Tim. 1:5-9) to some men to follow Jesus’ footsteps more closely (St. Augustine). The priest is called to be an angel of the Lord, always keeping His Law in his mouth (Mal. 2:7). A truly celibate priest is one who is a real man, who understands human nature and offers a sacrifice to Heaven for the sake of a higher good: the promotion of the glory of God and the salvation of souls. He acts in persona Christi, in the person of Christ, in the imitation of Jesus Christ as perfectly as possible, including in Jesus’ celibacy. The Old Testament provides hints about God’s desire…Continue Reading

By DON FIER Part 2 We ended last week’s installment by showing that the apostles and early Christians accepted the 46-book Septuagint as the authentic Old Testament right from the Church’s beginning. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches, these 46 divinely inspired books constitute “an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture” (CCC, n. 121) and “bear witness to the whole divine pedagogy of God’s saving love” (CCC, n. 122). Dei Verbum (DV) explains that the canonically approved books of the Old Testament “contain a store of sublime teachings about God, sound wisdom about human life, and a wonderful treasury of prayers, and in them the mystery of our salvation is present in a hidden way. Christians should receive…Continue Reading

Q. I am one of those facing the dilemma of how to dispose of the religious articles that are included in the appeals for donations that religious groups are sending out. Can you provide us with the names and addresses of missionary societies that will welcome them so they can distribute them in foreign lands? — C.G.D., Maryland. A. Perhaps some of our readers can suggest missionary societies that would welcome unused religious articles. You could also give them to Catholic schools or parish religious education programs for distribution to children or to those involved in prison ministry for distribution to inmates. One reader, J.F.K. of Ohio, says that what he does “is to send the articles back to the…Continue Reading

January 29, 2014Our Catholic FaithComments Off on The Economy Is Part Of The Church’s Evangelizing Mission

By REINHARD CARDINAL MARX (Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the January 10 issue of L’Osservatore Romano and has been translated from Italian by Catholic News Agency. All rights reserved. Cardinal Marx is the archbishop of Munich and Freising.) + + + A society in which the praise of greed is invited is on the road to alienation. Evangelii Gaudium is a declaration of spiritual government, a document full of positive dynamism and encouragement to bear witness to the Gospel. Secular media have also welcomed the text very attentively, making reference especially to the socio-ethical aspects. The world debate over these affirmations of the Holy Father continues to be intense. “Such an economy kills.” With this brief phrase,…Continue Reading

By Fr. ROBERT ALTIER Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 58:7-10 1 Cor. 2:1-5 Matt. 5:13-16 In the Gospel reading today our Lord tells us that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. A light shining in the darkness is obvious for everyone to see from miles around. Salt, while it is often not seen in food, is quite noticeable in the flavor. If there is too much or too little the food does not taste right. I am always amazed at the difference when a cook adds just a little salt to something that has already been tasted and was deemed to be lacking in salt. With either light or…Continue Reading

January 26, 2014Our Catholic FaithComments Off on A Leaven In The World… Marching For Life After Forty-One Years

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Bitterly cold weather with temperatures in the teens and a punishing wind chill greeted the thousands of brave and faithful souls who again took to the streets of Washington, D.C., on January 22 to “March for Life.” The annual demonstration on the anniversary of 1973’s Roe v. Wade has matured, and while many of the veteran marchers have as well, this largest pro-life event has a deep bench of young supporters who continue to swell the ranks of defenders of human life, particularly in the womb. Our Holy Father Pope Francis sent particular words of support via Twitter, saying, “I join the March for Life in Washington with my prayers. May God help us respect…Continue Reading

January 25, 2014Our Catholic FaithComments Off on Priestly Celibacy: Unnatural? Or . . . Supernatural? The Faith Of The Early Christians

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 5 It is a very comfortable position for the defenders of sola Scriptura to wish to interpret it according to their own criteria. In so doing, they pick and choose verses here and there to justify their views. God’s first commandment to mankind, “Be fruitful and multiply,” seems to be the “dogma” against celibacy. But they fail to see the context, the hints in the Old Testament pointing to a future celibacy, the difference between commandment and counsel, the teachings of Jesus Himself and especially of St. Paul, who explicitly recommends celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. One could ask them this simple question: How did the early Christians understand the…Continue Reading

By DON FIER For several weeks in this series we’ve been examining how God, in His loving Providence, has made Himself known to us. We’ve discussed the twofold means by which His divine Revelation has been transmitted to mankind — Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture — and how the two together are inseparable elements of a single Deposit of Faith. Most recently, we’ve examined how Sacred Scripture is read and interpreted through the eyes of the Church, that is, through the complementary use of the literal and spiritual senses of interpretation. The question we’ll now seek to answer is how the specific content to be included in the Bible was determined. In other words, how did the Canon of Scripture…Continue Reading